The Relay
December 10, 2025 • EPISODE 290
How does a simple relay help us understand electricity and circuits? In this episode of Science LIVE, Roger Billings breaks down the science behind the relay—the clever electromagnetic switch that makes it possible to control circuits with precision. Learn how relays work, why they’re essential in everyday electronics, and how this simple idea became a building block for modern technology. A clear, hands-on look at one of engineering’s most important tools.
About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »
I like how relays only need one switch. The switch really makes operating a device easier.
I loved todays science live! I can’t wait for the next one.
How do you get the DNA from a mammonths?
really interesting hearing about WD-40 and all of the different uses
I liked jingle bells played with spoons.
I look forward to this every Wednesday!
I love science live and how much it teaches me, can’t wait for the next one!
It was interesting learning about WD-40.
love the video❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰
It was so intriguing to learn about the WD-40 proccess to make it.
I learned that the keystone inventor often called an inventioneer is the visionary who integrates prior discoveries and inventions, making them practical, scalable, and commercially viable for society.
I love being apart of this weekly !
This live was very informative, cant wait for next Wednesday!
Hello from Illinois!
Watching from El Salvador on a trip!!
Watching from Montana.
I loved the WD-40 part! So cool!
r51 is so funny!
Hello from Montana, this is so cool
this was a really great and inspiring video thanks for your hard work
How do you sign up for graduation?
I love science live!
How far can the James web telescope see?
It’s so interesting learning about DNA!
Thank you Dr. B for showing us how to make a Relay and thank you Dr. John for the information on the DNA storage!
I loved this! Can’t wait for the next one!
This episode was really cool!
Great episode! It is so interesting how it took the three guys 40 tries to make the formula pass all the tests so NASA could use that formula to avoid the steel from rusting on the spaceship before it went to space so the steel won’t absorb the oxygen.
The science live was amazing tonight!!!
I like the part about DNA, how it’s a living organism used to store information and that humans have 3.2 gigabytes of DNA in 1 single cell, yet the human body is made up of tons of cells. That’s so cool!
I did not know that WD-40 was made for a rocket
This video showed me a lot, thank you Dr. Billings!!
I love science live and R-51
Learned so much from this live, eager for the next one!
Science live is the best!
Watching from Georgia, I love these!
How does the transistor set off the the bell ringer?
I’m learning a lot! Science rules
science is the best <33
What would happen if the base pairs within a double helix were somehow connected improperly?
I loved the WD40 part, I learned so much!
Hello from Mississippi this episode was great
Hey from West Virginia, this one was really entertaining!
I like learning about radio waves!
DNA is really cool because it makes up who we are and how we are. The different things that makes us and where it comes from is really neat.
it’s insane how only one person knows the whole WD40 formula
Love these videos they are always so good to watch! Love learning new things about items like w.d 40.
So excited for the next live!
Crazy at how WD40 was made and how many tries it took to get it right and now look at all the things that it is used for.
Thats fascinating how they invented WD40!
Its cool to learn about DNA and how we are made up of DNA from our mothers and our fathers. It is neat to see what traits that we get from different sides of the family.
And the ways that WD40 was being made and how you had to try and try again to get it right.
I loved how Dr. Billings explained the science of radio waves and made the complex topic so engaging. It really shows how technology shapes our ability to communicate across distances.
Great episode! Lookin forward to the next one.
I like how WD-40 can stop snow from sticking to a shovel.
No issue on app for us. I’m in middle school good luck 2026 students.
Science is amazing!
Science live teaches me so many things!
I love learning new things with science live.
Hi I love these videos and I learn something new each week.
Watching from Texas! Loved the episode
Science is the best, I like it a lot.
I really learned a lot from this live, can’t wait for the next one!
From New York! Thank youu
I really learned so much! No surprise there, every episode is so great! Im excited for 291!
Imagine if all inventors gave up because they failed. Instead they kept pushing forward and because of that, look at all the advances we have today.
Watching from the UK
thanks for teaching me again science live!
Oof, R-51 should have never touched those spoons…
cool! I want to go UK someday
I learned so much from this live! Thank you!
love r51 it’s funny😂
Watching from Belgium ! Loved today’s episode. The DNA data storage blew my mind, and the NASA + WD-40 story was such a cool reminder to never give up !
Science live is always so informative and interesting .
Thank you for teaching me. Watching from Singapore.
Learning about he relays was pretty cool
I am glad even though we are doing online school you all have a gradution that we can attend and feel like we got the high school experience of graduation.
How does the transistor set off the the bell ringer because t=they could have made it send signals to the bell the automated it and also how would the bells radio waves connect to the other transistor?
R-51 made me laugh! He’s so silly!
science is the best
I know right?
Everybody needs WD 40!
Very cool
This was cool. I’m excited for next week
I love science!!
Always leaves me excited for next week!
Poor R-51, he got shocked!
yea poor him😕
I loved it!!
Great science live today! Who comes up with what everyone should talk about and how much research do they have to do about that subject?
Its cool how we got to learn about DNA I like DNA.
It was so cool to learn about all the different uses for WD40 and the fact that they failed and failed and failed until they got it right.
WOW! I never knew that about WD40! Best time of the week is always with yall! Love from Tennessee!
I love r51 it’s funny😂
Loved the WD-40 part!
The wd40 segment was awesome!! Thank you for another awesome live!
I can’t wait to see what y’all will do next week!
Hi from GA! I am really excited to watch science live!
Hi from Georgia
Amazing episode!
If every inventor gave up after they failed we would never have had the breakthroughs that made life easier for us now. My mom said to on the path to succeed there is always going to be a failure or two along the way just to push through and learn from it.
I loved the live, it was very entertaining and I am excited for the next!
Cool live!
Really interesting that you can use DNA for storage and so cool that in one human they can store 3.2 GB of data in there DNA that is really neat to learn about and learning about wd-40 was neat as well cant wait till next week.
I love these videos every week!
It was cool to learn how WD-40 got its name and how relays work!
I enjoyed the story of WD-40, the science live was fun! Can’t wait for next week.
I really enjoyed the story of WD-40.
That was really cool! I look forward to the next one!
i like what Edison said about trying one more time. I didn’t know that rust weakened the metal this way and that it came from water exposure.
Hi! I thought learning about the origin of WD40 was pretty cool! I also like learning about DNA. I am doing Biology right now and really enjoying it because DNA has always fascinated me. Thank you so much! See you next week
If you fail 39 times, try again
Thank you for the live tonight!
I liked when he talked about
NASA rockets and missiles. It was really awesome and cool to listen to and I also like listening and learning from the science lives every week.
Nothing better than watching science live
I LOVE SCIENCE!
Interesting science behind WD-40 and how it came to be.
Another great week. R-51 made me laugh!
Hello from Tennessee loved this science live.
My favorite day of the week!
I am going to try some of this stuff you talked about with the WD 40
I learned that steel was not a good idea for NASA to use on Rockets because it can become unstable when outside. I did not know the story on why WD-40 was made and how it coats the steel on the rockets. Interesting.
I learned that dna is a way to save information
this is so cool!!!
Wow storing data in DNA like that is so soooo cool!! What do they get the dna from? Is it a certain plant or animal or does anything work? 60 petabytes in a cassette tape size is crazy. I can’t wait until they make DNA SD cards!!
I liked this episode! Gets better every time!
love that you showed something with wd-40
Science is so fun!
Can’t wait for accellus world
How much electricity is in the USA?
I didn’t know that the reason there is a 40 in WD-40 was because they tried to make WD-40 forty times. Thank you so much!
Awesome live! Looking foward to next weeks!
LOVE THE EPISODE!!
I really liked this science live!
Hi, I’m From New York
It’s so cool how a relay works with electricity!
I enjoyed todays technology spotlight
Loved the live today!! It was great!!
Very cool learning about WD-40! interesting! thanks for all of the information you bring to us!
I love seeing how the relay works
WD40 is used all the time at my house!!!
I always look forward to tuning in every Wednesday 🙂
Awesome! Can’t wait for next weeks episode.
I would love to go to Missouri to meet my peers but I still have a while before I graduate.
Excited to watch here in ny
I loved this live!!
The science behind WD-40 was so interesting. Who knew?
so excited i love science live!
I really enjoyed tonight’s live. I learned a lot about WD-40 i always look forward to learning new things and R-51 is hilarious with his coffee cup and enjoying life and when he got electrocuted. Cant wait till next week.
This is a really great episode
glad to be back for another video!!
Never laugh AT your wife! My parents agree!
It was good, can’t wait for the next video
That was really cool.
My name is Brent. I’m from Georgia, and love watching science live.
hi hello hey from iowa
Wd 40 is definitely one of the coolest and best things to be made! super helpful around the ranch.
greetings from new york
The bell had to be one of the coolest things ever! The next thing we need is the actual transmitter to send a radio signal instead of just the lighter, which is a quick burst. The transmitter is the real signal, which is exactly what we need. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I love this science live
does acellus do a graduation every year?
Science live is amazing so many cool things!
Wow! Wd 40 was a genius thing to be made.
Hi from Alabama.
I am only in the seventh grade but I am planning on going to the Univeristy of Akron or MIT
I am two classes away from graduation! I will then be joining the Air Force !!
This was so cool! looking forward to the next one.
every week i know people are so excited to watch science live !! very beneficial for our lives thank you Rodger Billings !!
Hi from Delaware
Hi from Vietnam! This show is awesome!
This was one of my first episodes and i found it very interesting.
I think it’s so cool yet crazy what those little balls of tinfoil are capable of when they work with other objects
I cant believe that little balls of aluminum foil can detect radio waves.
Hello everybody!!! Anna here, from New York, Brooklyn, USA.
Dr. John, those where some cool facts about DNA.
Mr. Tobias, those were some nice and interesting facts about WD-40.
Dr. Roger billings, that was a very splendid and cool experiment with the bell and with electricity to detect the radio waves! How else can a person at home can do morse code and detect radio waves?
I look forward to the next one! This live was awesome
hey from Peru
great show, I enjoyed it, I also liked how we can make bells ring with a coheror
I love science!
I liked learning about Marconi and how he invented the radio.
I love science, its the best.
That was great! I love R-51
DNA is so complex and interesting.
I liked the Breakthroughs in Science part about how WD-40 was made. I also really liked the Roger Billings section about how electric bells work.
The bell was really cool! The next thing we need is the actual transmitter, not just the lighter.
This episode was awesome! alongside the other last few, waves etc are fascinating to learn about. Science live has taught me a lot and I love it. Good thing DNA is used for security usage and no data can be stolen as its extra secure.
Is there any substance with the exact same cohesive properties as aluminum?
I learned so much. These are so interesting and so funny
Hello from TX!
hi from kentucky
It was interesting to learn that Marconi invented the radio.
it was really interesting that DNA has a lot of storage I wonder how much storage all the cells in the human body can hold.
Loved this episode! Hello from Kansas!
That was a great live! I love R-51!
Hi from Massachusetts.
The DNA stuff tonight was really cool!
I really enjoyed watching this! I’ll be looking forward to the next live.
I learned that if you convert binary code into a DNA formula, you can store the code for thousands of years.